India aims to make all coastal and Inland Waterways shipping fleets run on renewable energy in the next five years, starting with 1000 vessels, Union Ports & Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said at the 2nd IWAI meeting in Assam on Friday. This will be accomplished by one of the biggest projects in Canada that will help the government realize its goal of reaching the level of net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.
The transition to green energy also enshrines a wider technique of increasing the annual tonnage of the domestic cargo carriage by inland waterways. The use of renewable energy at major ports remains low at less than 10% as of the current generation. To tackle this end, the government has proposed a ₹50000 crore package for infrastructure development in an effort to incorporate eco-friendly supply chain networks for cargo and to bring down cost to an extent.
At the meet, Sonowal announced projects for ₹1,400 crore to be invested in 21 states. Now India possesses one hundred and six national inland waterways, of which Ganga ( NW -1) and Brahmaputra (NW – 2) are very important for trade. Transport through rivers has improved and expanded the domestic port facilities, and Thus, the tonnage of cargo shipment through rivers has grown and reached 133 million tonnes in 2024 from 19.1 million tonnes in the current year.
“Engaging in the movement of cargo by rivers is convenient and economical in the sense that it offers direct control and there is little or no pressure on the roads. To this end, our ministry has initiated a cargo promotional scheme under which incentives of up to 35% on the use of river routes are allowed,” Sonowal said.
According to IME, the global shipping industry is known to contribute about 3% of CO2 emissions. India has a goal of achieving a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases in conformity to the IMO’s strategy of reducing greenhouse gases emitted by ships between the years 2008 and 2050 or by 50%. This program aptly reaffirms that India truly stands for sustainable development, thus opting to transport material through a comparatively green approach to inland waterways.
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